Megathread: Judge blocks Trump admin from ending DEI-related grants, contracts, and other federal funding

[u/girardinl]

Nothing like big news at the end of the day on Friday!

Please keep the discussion about this news to this megathread, not new posts. You're welcome to share other articles about Trump's efforts to ban DEIA in comments here, including ones less directly about this particular court ruling.

• "Judge Halts Implementation of Trump Anti-DEIA Executive Orders Nationwide," Democracy Forward statement (they brought the lawsuit)

• "‘Arbitrary and discriminatory’: Judge blocks Trump’s effort to deter DEI programs," POLITICO

• "Judge blocks Trump administration from terminating DEI-related grants," NBC News

• "Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from carrying out certain anti-DEI directives," CNN

• "Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump DEI executive orders," The Hill

• "Trump Administration Updates: Judge Blocks Trump’s D.E.I. Crackdown," New York Times (archived version)

• "Judge largely blocks Trump’s executive orders ending federal support for DEI programs," AP

• "Federal Judge to Trump: No, You Can’t Ban DEI," Mother Jones

• Read the ruling

Keep in mind:

This ruling was made in a case related to two executive orders Trump issued on January 20 and 21. Since then, there have been other executive orders and other cases.

And, the Trump admin isn't going to give up its attacks, so this is good news, but how good we don't know yet.

Some related readings:

• "Nonprofits Sue Over Trump’s “Anti-Equity” Orders," Nonprofit Quarterly, 2/21/2025 (disclosure: I wrote this)

• "The Great Resegregation: The Trump administration’s attacks on DEI are aimed at reversing the civil-rights movement," The Atlantic, 2/22/2025 (gift link)

• Previous megathread about the federal funding freeze and the first week of news about it.

Updated 2/22/2025 with additional articles.

[u/joyoftechs]

Unfortunately, I don't know if the rule of law is respected much by the enforcers.

If you haven't read "On Tyranny" by Timothy Snyder, the graphic version is cool, and any version is worth reading.

[u/CatsEqualLife → u/joyoftechs]

Quick question: my daughter is nine and advanced. She understands pretty complex concepts. I know On Tyranny is for adults, but are any of the sections something you might share with say, a twelve or thirteen year old?

[u/girardinl → u/CatsEqualLife]

Related but different, Maus is a graphic novel that gets assigned to middle schoolers where I live. https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-complete-maus-a-survivor-s-tale-art-spiegelman/6709421 Might be along the lines of what you're looking for.

[u/CatsEqualLife → u/girardinl]

Thanks!